Monday, 3 October 2016

Autumn Beauty Haul | Lancome, Kylie Cosmetics, Urban Decay & More

How is Autumn treating you so far?

I love the season, apart from the darker nights, and I’ve been enjoying the return of jackets, ankle boots and being able to double my work wardrobe with the re-introduction of black tights (tall girl short hemline problems…)

Of course, there’s also the joy of new Autumn beauty launches. I’ve picked up a few brand new products and rediscovered a couple of old favourites over the past few weeks. Take a peek…

Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean

First up into my basket this month was an old favourite. This face wash has been my absolute ride-or-die option for many years now, but sometimes I get tempted to stray! The grass is rarely greener though, and I found myself going for my old friend again this time.

What do I love about this? Almost everything. Its got a rich, creamy texture that melts into the skin and leaves it feeling cleansed, glowing and soft. The smell is addictive – when I say ‘minty peaches’ that doesn’t sound enormously appealing, but trust me, it is! It gives a gentle tingle when you apply to your skin. I also love the large pump-action bottle which is really hygenic and fuss-free.

The thing I can never get my head around is that this doesn’t foam up. I know that’s not essential to provide a good clean but I just feel like something is missing! Regardless, I love using this with my Foreo Luna and I’m glad its back in my life.

Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation

I was literally soooo excited for this to launch. I felt like I’d been waiting an age between first glimpsing this on Instagram and actually getting my hands on some. The hype around this was immense. I loved their Naked Skin foundation, but its not very high coverage, whereas this promised to be sweat-proof, waterproof and budget proof, with all of the same line blurring technology and skin goodness.

It honestly sounded like a complete holy grail, but so far, I’m not in love with it. The finish is super-matte and quite chalky and I’m not sure that’s very flattering on older skin. It seems to sink into every line and pore and makes my skin look quite flat and lifeless.

I’ve only reached for it a couple of times since buying it, and I’m not convinced I would repurchase. Quite a letdown! But perhaps it will grow on me over time. You can see my full review on it here.

Urban Decay Vice Lipstick | Whip

At the same time as ordering the foundation, I couldn’t resist picking up one of the reformulated lipsticks. UD always kill it with the packaging.

The foundation is quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and the edgy casing of these lipsticks, which are sort of designed to look like bullet cartridges, appealed to me. There’s a huge range of shades and finishes available in the new Vice line – at least 100 – so I wasn’t sure what to pick.

As I’m liking metallic finishes at the moment, I decided on ‘Whip’ which looked like a sort of nude sheer with iridescent glitter – quite different to any other shade I own. It looks incredible in the tube, but its not very pigmented on the lips.

The formula of these lipsticks are supposed to be loaded with hydrating aloe vera, jojoba, avocado and abassu oils and vitamins C and E for antioxidants, but possibly because of the glitter finish here, it doesn’t feel that smooth to wear.

I think this is nice but not amazing – I would try some other colours in the range to make sure though as I’m sure the other shades would be quite different.

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes 06 Chocolate

There are certain things from The Body Shop that I really love (after years of never going in post-teenage obsession with Dewberry!) but apart from their Honey Bronze oil for legs, make-up has never been one of them.

I don’t know why, but their cosmetic offering always leaves me feeling a little unconvinced… but could these eyeshadows change that?

What you get is a set of four little cubes of intensely shimmery pigment, housed in a clear case. You can pop the cubes out individually, or keep them as palette - which is handy if you want to just take one shade with you (I’m thinking evening do’s and small clutch bags…) The colours in this set are so pretty.

There are several different shade combinations, but this one is ’06 – Chocolate’. There’s a wonderful copper shade, a metallic chocolate brown that’s gorgeous, a rose gold colour and a reddish-brown that is my new favourite colour. All beautiful hues for autumnal evenings - they really glow. They can be used wet as well for added intensity. A really good find!

Lancome Teint Idole Cushion Foundation

Lancome has a reputation as a quality brand, but I wouldn’t have pegged them as one of the most innovative. Until now!

Hot on the heels of cushion foundations being announced as the latest thing beloved in South Korea (pretty much universally acknowledged as the new skincare capital of the world), Lancome had an offering ready to go, a variation on their highly-regarded Teint Idole formula.

So I was super excited to get my hands on one to try and I was very kindly sent one for review – so watch this space for a full look at this soon. It promises a high-coverage finish with a luminous glow, and the format is ultra-portable and so easy to use on the go. The cushion application is supposed to give flawless results – a bit like a built-in Beauty Blender.

You get the compact, which is £30.00 and then just purchase refills. The reviews seem to be universally glowing for this so I’m super excited to give it a try and see what I make of the cushion craze.

Imperial Leather Marshmallow Shower Cream

Okay, this isn’t strictly beauty, but I couldn’t help including it. There’s something extremely soothing about gourmand scents in the shower, and when I spotted this on offer in Boots, I couldn’t resist picking it up. Imperial Leather is a brand I associate with grannies and its definitely not my usual choice of shower gel – but how cute is this?

The smell is absolutely delicious and the formula looks very creamy and indulgent. It is extremely girly and pink, but I just love anything scented with marshmallow so I had to give it a try.

The scent is supposed to be good at lasting as well, which is great as I generally forget to put perfume on most mornings as I’m in such a rush.

Kylie Birthday Edition Lip Kit

After so long resisting, I crumbled. It seemed like the whole world – or at least the cosmetic-obsessed internet bit that I inhabit – lost its damn mind over the Kylie lip kits. And I sort of stood back and rolled my eyes a bit. I mean, I’m not sure what I think about Kylie Jenner (although her makeup game is admittedly next level) and I sort of didn’t see why people were paying over the top customs charges and things to get hold of them. The whole business model annoyed me. I felt like they were deliberately holding stock back so things would ‘sell out’ all the time. I felt like their international delivery should have been a lot better. And I felt like ultimately, you could get the same quality- or better- elsewhere.

But then Kylie came out with her ‘birthday editions’ - a series of cream shadows, eyeliners and liquid lipsticks in gold packaging. I gave in to the hype. I wanted those damn lipsticks!

I like the selection of shades here - there is a selection of mainly nudes – Exposed, Dolce K and Candy K – a pale pink in Koko K, a brownish berry shade in Kirsten and Leo, a stunning burgundy that I really wanted.

All of these are colours I know I will wear a lot, and although I’m not a massive fan of a matte lip, I’ve slowly started to be converted. I thought this was a great way to try out some of the Kylie range and see if I liked it and what really lies behind all the deafening online buzz.

At first try, I quite like these. The formula is a lot more silky than I imagined and the finish is sort of velvety, which is nice. The colours are beautiful and very wearable. So far, I’m quite impressed!

Ardell Lashes – Wispies, Baby Wispies and Chocolate

And as usual, I’ve been stocking up on lashes! This month I’ve been all about Ardell.

I just love their Baby Wispies as my ‘everyday’ lash. They’re dense enough to add impact but short enough to pass as natural with a clear band that makes them blend in seamlessly. I’ve had countless pairs of these in the past couple of months and I love them – as well as liking the Wispies when I need a more dramatic lash look.

I also picked up a pair of their ‘Chocolate’ lashes to try. They promise a ‘full but natural look’ and they have a dark brown colour rather than the usual black. These also have some 3D layering going on, like the Kiss Blooming Lovely lashes I tried a while ago – so instead of all the lashes sitting on a level, they are fanned out at different angles, which gives a denser look.

These are definitely too intense for everyday wear, so I’ll have to save them for when I have a night out. They are slightly spikier than the styles I tend to choose, but its always good to try out new things.

L'Oreal Studio Line Hot & Go

I'm always looking for hair products that cut my blow-drying time, because I find washing my hair literally the most tedious and boring process in the whole world. Seriously, I'd rather drown in a cloud of dry shampoo than have to do the dreaded wash and dry!

So when I spotted this little spray it seemed worth a try, as it promises multiple benefits - hold and smoothness, a speeded-up drying time and frizz control.

I'm hoping it doesn't give that awful crunchy texture, but I've used products from this line before and they didn't. This also has thermo-active technology - so the heat from your hairdryer activates the key ingredients.

It basically acts as a bit of a primer for the hair and cuts down on your styling time - I'm hoping it might even stop me needing to reach for my GHDs as much.

And that is my little autumn beauty haul for now – I also have my eye on some REN skincare products, the new Liptensity colours from Mac and I’ve just ordered the second Tili box which I’m super-excited for - so check back for more beauty buys soon!

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3 comments

I'm kind of the same as you with the Kylie stuff, i resisted for so long but finally gave in and do love the two glosses I have now. Your bday collection ones look so cute! That Marshmallow body wash looks dreamy too!